9 Skin Care Routines to Help You Survive Winter

Winter is a wonderful time of the year. With cozying by the fire, sipping hot chocolate and making snow angels—well, you get the idea.

And as much as we love winters, it, however, is not the best thing that can happen to our skin and hair. It makes the skin flaky, lips get cracked, brittle hair strands and feet that never see sunlight. And smoothening things over isn’t always easy.

But with a couple of skincare regimes that can be incorporated into your routine can make your skin and hair feel a lot better.

1. Exfoliate your lips

During winters, our lips are more prone to getting dry and chapped. For some of us, having chapped lips mean bad news. We start developing scars or even bleeding through them. Exfoliating them once a week with gentle scrubs to ensure your lips stay smooth through the dreadful winter weather.

2. Use tea bags for Dry Lips

Applying petroleum jelly may seem like the ideal product to use for chapped lips. But it can also make the lips more prone to bleeding for a few people. Instead use tea bags at least once a day over the lips. The tannins in the tea immediately hydrate your lips and soothe sunburns during winter.

3. Use tub moisturizers

Moisturizers that come in tubs and jars are a lot thicker than lotions that come in bottles with pumps. These creams contain more oil than water content, making them more hydrating for the skin. They also prevent the skin from drying out too soon and keeps you well moisturized for hours.

5. Exfoliate your dry scalp with sugar

Sugar is a natural exfoliator and can be useful if used right. Massage in gently coconut oil and sugar into dry scalps for 2-3 minutes before shampooing. This can help relieve the scalp of dead and flaky skin. You can then use your shampoo and conditioner as directed. Using an exfoliator for the hair every thrice a week keeps your hair from breaking away or losing moisture.

6. Turn the temperature down

A hot shower can be the most inviting thing during a winter morning. And as great as they may feel, it can also harm your skin. Hot water has the ability to strip your skin of the natural oils that it needs to maintain proper moisture levels. It can also leave your skin feeling raw and tight. But if you still want to use hot water, dial it down to lukewarm and adding a few drops of essential oils will leave your skin feeling refreshed and smooth.

7. Oatmeal bath

Oatmeal is a natural product made from oat grain that is full of vitamins, minerals, and lipid that work to make your skin smoother. They also help with eczema type of skin reducing the irritation. Oatmeal baths are gentle enough for babies, so imagine the wonders it’ll do to your dry skin? Just pour a cup of plain oatmeal and mix them with warm water. You can also add a pinch of lavender oil for a luxurious at-home spa feel

8. Chapsticks for your bows and lids

We often forget to moisturize our elbows, knees and behind the knee. These regions of our body tend to dry out faster than the others making them prone to sunburns and cracks. Using shea butter for this region help maintain the right pH levels of the skin leaving them smooth and hydrated at all times.

9. Cracked feet

This phenomenon drives every woman crazy. No matter what you do, the soles of our feet start to crack due to intense cold. Applying coconut oil to the feet and soaking them in warm water for 10 minutes to ensure the dirt and dead skin particles to leave the skin, leaving you with clean feet. You can then exfoliate or scrub your feet with green tea leaves, sugar and honey to lock in good moisture. Green tea is a natural hydrating agent for skin; sugar a good exfoliator and honey helps the skin feeling soft and supple. After exfoliating, applying olive oil can help you can feel the difference.